Gypsum-based Silica Gel Humidity-controlling Composite Materials:Preparation,Characterization,and Performance

Gypsum was used as substrate,and silica gel was mixed into substrate at a certain mass ratio to prepare humidity-controlling composites;moreover,the moisture absorption and desorption properties of gypsum-based composites were compared with adding different silica gel particle size and proportion.The morphological characteristics,the isothermal equilibrium moisture content curve,moisture absorption and desorption rate,moisture absorption and desorption stability,and humidity-conditioning performance were tested and analyzed.The experimental results show that,compared with pure-gypsum,the surface structure of the gypsum-based composites is relatively loose,the quantity,density and aperture of the pores in the structure increase.The absorption and desorption capacity increase along with the increase of silica gel particle size and silica gel proportion.When 3 mm silica gel particle size is added with a mass ratio of 40%,the maximum equilibrium moisture content of humidity-controlling composites is 0.161 g/g at 98% relative humidity(RH),3.22 times that of pure-gypsum.The moisture absorption and desorption rates are increased,the equilibrium moisture absorption and desorption rates are 2.68 times and 1.61 times that of pure-gypsum at 58.5% RH,respectively.The gypsum-based composites have a good stability,which has better timely response to dynamic humidity changes and can effectively regulate indoor humidity under natural conditions.

Research Progress of Carbon-Silicone Composite Materials

Silicone is a kind of polymer material with high cross-linked structure,which is com-posed by Si-O-Si main chain.Due to the special molecular chain structure,silicone mate-rials are characterized by oxidation resistance,aging resistance,high and low temperature resistance and chemical corrosion resistance.Moreover,silicone materials have process-able properties,simple forming process,good mechanical property,non-toxic and pollution-free.Therefore,silicone has been widely concerned by researchers at home and abroad.In this paper,the main research progress and application directions of carbon-silicone composite at home and abroad in recent years are reviewed.

TiO2-PES Fibrous Composite Material for Ammonia Removal Using UV-A Photocatalyst

This study focused on the development and characterization of TiO2-PES composite fibers with varying TiO2 loading amounts using a phase inversion process. The resulting composite fibers exhibited a sponge-like structure with embedded TiO2 nanoparticles within a polymer matrix. Their photocatalytic performance for ammonia removal from aqueous solutions under UV-A light exposure was thoroughly investigated. The findings revealed that PeTi8 composite fibers displayed superior adsorption capacity compared to other samples. Moreover, the study explored the impact of pH, light intensity, and catalyst dosage on the photocatalytic degradation of ammonia. Adsorption equilibrium isotherms closely followed the Langmuir model, with the results indicating a correlation between qm values of 2.49 mg/g and the porous structure of the adsorbents. The research underscored the efficacy of TiO2 composite fibers in the photocatalytic removal of aqueous under UV-A light. Notably, increasing the distance between the photocatalyst and the light source resulted in de-creased hydroxyl radical concentration, influencing photocatalytic efficiency. These findings contribute to our understanding of TiO2 composite fibers as promising photocatalysts for ammonia removal in water treatment applications.

Enhanced microwave absorption property of silver decorated biomass ordered porous carbon composite materials with frequency selective surface incorporation

Porous carbon(PC)is a promising electromagnetic(EM)wave absorbing material thanks to its light weight,large specific surface area as well as good dissipating capacity.To further improve its microwave absorbing performance,silver coated porous carbon(Ag@PC)is synthesized by one-step hydro-thermal synthesis process making use of fir as a biomass formwork.Phase compositions,morphological structure,and microwave absorption capability of the Ag@PC has been explored.Research results show that the metallic Ag was successfully reduced and the particles are evenly distributed inward the pores of the carbon formwork,which accelerates graphitization process of the amorphous carbon.The Ag@PC composite without adding polyvinyl pyrrolidone(PVP)exhibits higher dielectric constant and better EM wave dissipating capability.This is because the larger particles of Ag give rise to higher electric conductivity.After combing with frequency selective surface(FSS),the EM wave absorbing performance is further improved and the frequency region below-10 d B is located in8.20-11.75 GHz,and the minimal reflection loss value is-22.5 dB.This work indicates that incorporating metallic Ag particles and FSS provides a valid way to strengthen EM wave absorbing capacity of PC material.

A strategy for lightweight designing of a railway vehicle car body including composite material and dynamic structural optimization

Rolling stock manufacturers are finding structural solutions to reduce power required by the vehicles,and the lightweight design of the car body represents a possible solution.Optimization processes and innovative materials can be combined in order to achieve this goal.In this framework,we propose the redesign and optimization process of the car body roof for a light rail vehicle,introducing a sandwich structure.Bonded joint was used as a fastening system.The project was carried out on a single car of a modern tram platform.This preliminary numerical work was developed in two main steps:redesign of the car body structure and optimization of the innovated system.Objective of the process was the mass reduction of the whole metallic structure,while the constraint condition was imposed on the first frequency of vibration of the system.The effect of introducing a sandwich panel within the roof assembly was evaluated,focusing on the mechanical and dynamic performances of the whole car body.A mass saving of 63%on the optimized components was achieved,corresponding to a 7.6%if compared to the complete car body shell.In addition,a positive increasing of 17.7%on the first frequency of vibration was observed.Encouraging results have been achieved in terms of weight reduction and mechanical behaviour of the innovated car body.

Effect of Rare Earths on Microstructure and Properties of TiC-based Cermet/Cu Alloy Composite Wear Resistant Materials

The effect of rare earth (RE) oxide on the microstructure and properties of TiC based cermet/Cu alloy composite hardfacing materials was investigated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), impact test and wear test. The mechanism of RE oxide for improving the phase structure and the impact toughness was also discussed. The experimental results indicate that the microstructure of the matrix can be refined, and the micro-porous defects can be eliminated by adding RE oxide into the composite materials. The polycrystalline and amorphous phase structure is formed at the interface of cermet and matrix metal. The formed structure enhances the conjoint strength of interface. The frictional wear resistance can be improved obviously, although the microhardness of the matrix metal can not be effectively increased by adding RE oxide.

Deformation Characteristics and Mechanical Properties of Ti/Al Bimetallic Composite Materials Fabricated by Wire Plus Arc Additive Manufacturing

We focused on Ti/Al composite materials fabricated by wire and arc addictive manufacturing,and the microstructure and interface characteristics of them before and after hot compression deformation were compared.After compression deformation,allαstructures of titanium were compacted with the emergence of Widmanstatten structures.Coarsened coloniesαof titanium were elongated and waved along the original growth direction,resulting in anisotropy of grains.Pores and Ti/Al intermetallic compounds of aluminum are significantly decreased after hot compression.Meanwhile,a good bonding interface between titanium and aluminum is obtained after hot compression,and the element diffusion is more intense.In addition,the mechanical properties and fracture behaviors of Ti/Al composite material with different clad ratio that is defined as the ratio of the thickness of titanium to that of the Ti/Al composite material are investigated by uniaxial tensile test.The experimental results show that the ultimate tensile strength of Ti/Al composite material is between that of single deposited titanium and aluminum,while the elongation of Ti/Al composite material with low clad ratio is lower than that of single aluminum due to the metallurgical reaction.As the clad ratio increases,the two component layers are harder to separate during deformation,which is resulted from the decrease of the inward contraction stress of three-dimensional stress caused by necking of aluminum.This work may promote the engineering application of Ti/Al bimetallic structures.

Influence of Some Plant Fibers on the Mechanical Performance of Composite Materials

This work focused on the search for biobased materials capable of being used in road techniques as soil inclusions, and on studying the influence of their incorporation on the characteristic parameters of pavement layers. To this end, pineapple, cyperus and imperata plant fibers, due to their endemic availability, were used as reinforcement on sourced materials, notably bar soil, lateritic gravel and silty sand. Complete identification and mechanical tests (Proctor and CBR) were carried out on materials in their natural state (soil) and on composite materials (soil + plant fibers) in the laboratory to determine their classification in road geotechnics, their compaction parameters and their mechanical behavior. Firstly, the various types of 2.5 cm long fibers were incorporated into the different types of soil at mass contents of 1% and 2%. This part of the study showed that the pineapple fiber composite incorporated into class A2 bar soil offered the best results, with a 38% gain in CBR index compared with the natural soil. Pineapple fibers incorporated at 1% in lateritic gravel raise the CBR value of the reinforced soil to 10% of the CBR value of the natural soil and to 7% for silty sand.

A two-scale method for identifying mechanical parameters of composite materials with periodic configuration

In this paper, a two-scale method （TSM） is presented for identifying the mechanics parameters such as stiffness and strength of composite materials with small periodic configuration. Firstly, a formulation is briefly given for two-scale analysis （TSA） of the composite materials. And then a two-scale computation formulation of strains and stresses is developed by displacement solution with orthotropic material coefficients for three kinds of such composites structures, i.e., the tension column with a square cross section, the bending cantilever with a rectangular cross section and the torsion column with a circle cross section. The strength formulas for the three kinds of structures are derived and the TSM procedure is discussed. Finally the numerical results of stiffness and strength are presented and compared with experimental data. It shows that the TSM method in this paper is feasible and valid for predicting both the stiffness and the strength of the composite materials with periodic configuration.

Structural Characterization and Property Study on the Activated Alumina-activated Carbon Composite Material

AlCl3,NH3·H2O,HNO3 and activated carbon were used as raw materials to prepare one new type of activated alumina-activated carbon composite material.The influence of heat treatment conditions on the structure and property of this material was discussed;The microstructures of the composite material were characterized by XRD,SEM,BET techniques;and its formaldehyde adsorption characteristic was also tested.The results showed that the optimal heat treatment temperature of the activated alumina-activated carbon composite material was 450 ℃,iodine adsorption value was 441.40 mg/g,compressive strength was 44 N,specific surface area was 360.07 m2/g,average pore size was 2.91 nm,and pore volume was 0.26 m3/g.According to the BET pore size distribution diagram,the composite material has dual-pore size distribution structure,the micro-pore distributes in the range of 0.6-1.7 nm,and the meso-pore in the range of 3.0-8.0 nm.The formaldehyde adsorption effect of the activated alumina-activated carbon composite material was excellent,much better than that of the pure activated carbon or activated alumina,and its saturated adsorption capacity was 284.19 mg/g.

Far Infrared Radiation Property of Rare Earth Mneral Composite Materials

Rare earth mineral composite materials were prepared using rare earths and natural far-infrared mineral materials . The influences of rare earth additive content and heat treatment temperature on the far infrared radiance were studied. The results show that the far infrared radiance of rare earth mineral composite materials is 0.93 when the rare earth additive content is 6% and heat treatment temperature is 750℃.

A novel implementation algorithm of asymptotic homogenization for predicting the effective coefficient of thermal expansion of periodic composite materials

Asymptotic homogenization (AH) is a general method for predicting the effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of periodic composites. It has a rigorous mathematical foundation and can give an accurate solution if the macrostructure is large enough to comprise an infinite number of unit cells. In this paper, a novel implementation algorithm of asymptotic homogenization (NIAH) is developed to calculate the effective CTE of periodic composite materials. Compared with the previous implementation of AH, there are two obvious advantages. One is its implementation as simple as representative volume element (RVE). The new algorithm can be executed easily using commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software as a black box. The detailed process of the new implementation of AH has been provided. The other is that NIAH can simultaneously use more than one element type to discretize a unit cell, which can save much computational cost in predicting the CTE of a complex structure. Several examples are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new implementation. This work is expected to greatly promote the widespread use of AH in predicting the CTE of periodic composite materials.

Preparation and Characterization of Rare Earth Composite Materials Radiating Far Infrared for Activating Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Rare earth composite materials radiating far-infrared rays were prepared according to far infrared absorption spectrum of main component in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The composite materials were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transformed infrared spectra(FTIR). The results show that after the composite materials were calcined at 873 K for 4 h, FTIR spectra of rare earth composite materials display two new peaks at 1336 and 2926 cm-1 available for activating LPG.

The New Technology of Composite Materials Repairing by Light Wave

The repairing of damaged composite materials becomes a hot research subject in the late 1990s.In this paper a new technology of repairing composite materials is given on the basis of our previous research.The light wave of 675nm transmitted by optical fiber is used as repairing light source,special repairable adhesive which can be stimulated by the light is adopted.By comparing the stiffness of the composite material before and after being damaged,it can be concluded that the mechanical property will not be changed with the feasible repairing technology.

Damage Detection of Composite Material Intelligent Structure with a New Photoelectric System

A kind of photoelectric system that is suitable to measuring and to testing the damage of the composite material intelligent structure was presented. It can measure the degree of damage of the composite intelligent structure and it also can tell us the damage position in the structure. This system consists of two parts ： software and hardware. Experiments of the damage detection and the analysis of the composite material structure with the photoelectric system were performed, and a series of damage detection experiments was conducted. The results prove that the performance of the system is well and the effects of the measure and test are evident. Through all the experiments, the damage detection technology and test system are approved to be real-time, effective and reliable in the damage detection of the composite intelligent structure.

Synthesis and analysis of new humidity-controlling composite materials

Gypsum is a traditional building material. To improve the humidity-controlling properties of gypsum, we prepared a new type of humidity-controlling composite using the sol-gel method. Methods to determine the maximum equilibrium moisture content and speed of adsorption/desorption were subsequently applied to analyze the performance of the samples. The appearance and structural properties of the samples were characterized by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that the humidity-controlling gel with added LiCl exhibits high moisture storage and that the equilibrium maximum moisture content is 5.652 g/g at a 75.29% relative humidity (RH). A mass ratio of LiCl/sol = 0.15 is demonstrated to be appropriate for the preparation of the new humidity-controlling composites. A coarse network with tiny pores is observed on the surface of the new humidity-controlling composites, and this pore network provides sufficient space for moisture adsorption.

Biomimetic Design and Test of Composite Materials

A series of superior properties will make composites the most important structural materials in the next century.But they are difficult to design owing to the complexity of structure and processing. Biomaterials had been naturally selected and evolved for millions of years,a great variety of their ra- tional composite structures could be taken as our reference in the biomimetic design of composite materials.There are many difficult problems in the current study on composite materials such as: brittleness of continuous fibers and difficulties in interface design;easy pull-out of short fibers from matrix causing failure in reinforcing;being less easy in selecting the aspect ratio of whiskers and dif- ficulties in finding the way of toughening composites of ceramic matrices as well as the way of heal- ing inner damages.After describing the distinct composite features,the functional adaptability and self-healing ability of biomaterials,several examples o.f biomimetic design of composite materials have been listed in this paper:the optimum design of composites simulating bamboo structure;the fine structure of bamboo fibers;the dumb-bell model simulating animal bone;the model on the pull-out of fiber with fractal-tree structure and some tentative works on the healing of inner damage in composite materials The methodology of biomimetic design and its future have been given at the ast part of this paper.

Intercalation Assembly, Characterization and Luminescent Properties of Novel Supramolecular Composite Materials, Tb(Ⅲ) Complex with Tetrapodal Ligand-Montmorillonite

Two kinds of Tb（ Ⅲ ） complexes with tetrapodal ligand, [TbL（NO3）]^3＋ and [TbL]^3＋ （L： 1,1, 1＇, 1＇-tera （ 2-pyridinecarboxylester ）-di （ trimethylpropane）） were intercalated into the interlayer space of montmorillonite （MT） by ion exchange and coordination reaction of L with the Tb^3＋ ion existing in the interlayer space of Tb-MT respectively. The obtained luminescent supramolecular composite materials, [ TbL （NO3） ]^2＋-MT and [TbL]^3＋-MT were characterized by elemental analysis, XRD, FT-IR, UV-vis and thermal analysis. At the same time, the luminescent properties of the materials were also studied. The results show that the intercalated materials with regular layered structure, good thermal stability and the interlayer spacing （d001） approximates to the size of the complex ions which are located in the interlayer space of MT in the form of a monolayer.

Multi-scale Modeling of the Effective Chloride Ion Diffusion Coefficient in Cement-based Composite Materials

N-layered spherical inclusions model was used to calculate the effective diffusion coefficient of chloride ion in cement-based materials by using multi-scale method and then to investigate the relationship between the diffusivity and the microstructure of cement-basted materials where the microstructure included the interfacial transition zone （ITZ） between the aggregates and the bulk cement pastes as well as the microstructure of the bulk cement paste itself. For the convenience of applications, the mortar and concrete were considered as a four-phase spherical model, consisting of cement continuous phase, dispersed aggregates phase, interface transition zone and their homogenized effective medium phase. A general effective medium equation was established to calculate the diffusion coefficient of the hardened cement paste by considering the microstructure. During calculation, the tortuosity （n） and constrictivity factors （Ds/Do） of pore in the hardened pastes are n^3.2, Ds/Do=l.Ox 10-4 respectively from the test data. The calculated results using the n-layered spherical inclusions model are in good agreement with the experimental results; The effective diffusion coefficient of ITZ is 12 times that of the bulk cement for mortar and 17 times for concrete due to the difference between particle size distribution and the volume fraction of aggregates in mortar and concrete.

Enhanced Photoactivity of Layered Nanocomposite Materials Containing Rare Earths,Titanium Dioxide and Clay

The nanocomposite materials containing rare earths, titanium dioxide and clay (RE/TiO2/Clay) were characterized and tested for the photocatalytic decomposition of formaldehyde. The results show that nanocomposite materials prepared by doping appropriate rare earth elements have better photocatalytic properties than that prepared by doping excessive rare earth elements. The photocatalytic mechanism of composite materials was studied by integrating the theory of pho-tocatalysis with experiment results. Because the site of photocatalytic reaction was limited in the interspace of clay, photocatalytic reaction occurred by two steps: firstly, organic molecules dispersed into the interlayers of clay; secondly, organic molecules and photocatalyst of RE/TiO2 occurred photocatalytic reaction, resulting in forming carbon dioxide.